Christmas Eve

We planned on doing our own family Christmas on Christmas Eve and made it a full-day affair. We had a delicious breakfast of crepes and then opened presents one at a time. We would then spend the next hour or so playing with the new gift or doing some other activity together as a family. Unfortunately, our Christmas Eve service at church was canceled due to the icy weather, so we really were home all day!

Playing OuiSi (a new game)

Annaliese made Kyle a journal

Annaliese made me a new pair of slippers.

We had a very enjoyable day and it was a lot of fun to slowly open presents and play with them as we went. We also called Grandma Kelley and Grandpa Jay and opened up presents from them over FaceTime. This time of year is always such an obvious reminder of how blessed we are and how we have so much more than we deserve!

Christmas Break

 Here we are, at the end of a two-week Christmas break that has been filled with a wide range of activities. We've spent time with cousins, decorated Christmas cookies, 'skated' on our own ice rink in the front yard, and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas filled with so many fun gifts. 

In no particular order, here are a few pictures from the past two weeks.

Elias enjoying his steak and potato dinner!

Not quite sure what's happening here...photo credit: Lydia

Bitterly cold...and windy. Playing outside in deep snowdrifts!

Cookie decorating with Mallory, Owen, and Lucas (their next-door neighbor)

Kyle and the girls were taking silly pictures together!

Bitter cold snow, followed by freezing rain leads to this...

Getting some fresh air out at Birch Bay

Summit Trampoline Park

Christmas is in the Air

 December is always fun because the entire month is full of fun, planned activities. We finally decorated the tree, Kyle put Christmas lights up, everyone got new Christmas PJs and the school had all sorts of fun activities. 

We started the month off by participating in the Blaine Obstacle Dash. It was a short loop through the woods with a few obstacles along the way and wrapped up with a bowl of clam chowder or chili. Plus, everyone got a medal for completing the course and the girls wrote letters to Santa. It was a very windy cold day in Lynden, but thankfully by the time we arrived in Blaine, the wind stopped and the sun came out!

Team skiing!

We had to build a snowman out of tires and a bucket!

Everyone had a full week of dress-up days but I got very few pictures. The kids all went over to the high school one day and were partnered up with a high schooler. They did crafts together and then everyone sang Christmas songs together. I saw a few videos and it looked like a pretty amazing time! 

Lydia had a class Christmas party, complete with games, cookie decorating, and snacks and I think I only took one or two pictures!

Buffalo Plaid/Red day

This was the beautiful sunrise while we were waiting for the bus on Thursday!

Hard to tell here...but Haleigh is wearing fun Christmas pants, Lydia has a fun Christmas dress, and Annaliese has the reindeer ears (it was 'hat day' in the middle school.)

The week wrapped up on Friday with the elementary school Christmas Concert and Haleigh's class party. The choir teacher is retiring after this year and she's been at LC for over 20 years. It sounds like wearing these Christmas Capes has been a tradition for the entire time! The kids did a great job and it is fun to see them all together. 

Pretty impossible to pick out the kids in this picture! 

Lydia was dismissed part way through the concert, so she came to Haleigh's class party with me.

Haleigh, Mallory, and Lydia

And here we are, now on our first day of Christmas break. We spent the day at a basketball game and went out for lunch/ice cream. I think everyone is ready for the break from school and Lydia spends a lot of time organizing all the presents under the tree!

Annaliese is 11!

Annaliese's birthday was the day after Thanksgiving, which is always a hard time of the year to celebrate. We started things early when Grandpa and Grandma Gillette were here a few weeks ago, and then have continued the celebration until this past weekend. 

On her actual birthday, we went and picked out our Christmas tree and started getting things set up for Christmas, but we did have a special birthday dinner of steak and potatoes.

She requested cinnamon rolls for breakfast, but we didn't get up on time for that so we had them for a Saturday mid-morning snack. They were made from a mix from the best-ever cinnamon roll shop in Pismo Beach, CA!

Saturday evening we did a combination birthday party with Owen, who turned 6 this year. Everyone came over for dinner, presents and then we all headed to The Claire Theater to watch Elf.

We wrapped up our birthday celebration by having a few of her friends from school over this past weekend. They made cookies, played soccer, and opened presents. There were a few girls that I didn't know very well, so it was a lot of fun to see who Annaliese's friends are. 

Favorite Food: Steak and baked potatoes. Or hamburgers.

Favorite Color: Turquoise

Favorite Sport to Play: Soccer or Basketball

Favorite Book: Nancy Drew

Instruments She Currently Plays: Piano and Saxophone

Shoe Size: 5